Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters Movie Review

Reviewed by Lynn Barker on Aug 07, 2013

Rating:

Percy continues his epic journey to fulfill his destiny as a demi-god. Kidzworld reviews the second “Percy” film Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters.

By: Lynn Barker

Ever feel like some sort of heroic thing you did was a fluke? You could never be heroic again, right? That is how demigod Percy Jackson feels until he proves himself on a new quest.

In the Past

Seven years ago, young half-bloods were running for the safety of Camp Half-Blood when they were attacked by Cyclops. One of them, Talia, daughter of Zeus, stayed behind to give the others a chance. She was killed and Zeus turned her into a tree and put a protective barrier around the camp.

Entering the Sea of Monsters

Now, At Camp

Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) son of the God Poseidon, is still trying to prove himself in the games but Clarisse (Leven Rambin) daughter of the war God always bests him. When the barrier is breached by Luke (Jake Abel) rebel son of Hermes, the protective tree grown from Talia’s body, starts to die. Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena, realizes that there must be a quest to bring the Golden Fleece back to camp to heal the tree and thus restore the barrier.

Percy prepares to confront a powerful enemy

Percy’s Destiny

Percy has been told by the Oracle that it is his job to tangle with Luke to either save Olympus and Earth or destroy them. Clarisse is given charge of the quest but Percy, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and Annabeth decide to go get the Fleece separately. Joining them is Percy’s newly-discovered half brother Tyson (Douglas Smith) a Cyclops and also son of Poseidon. Knowing that Cyclops killed Talia, Annabeth doesn’t trust him.

Percy injured in the games

Kidnapped!

After the questers take a magical, wild ride to Washington, D.C., Grover is captured by Luke and his men. Getting a tip from Luke’s dad Hermes (a very funny Nathan Fillion), the gang heads to the Sea of Monsters (our Bermuda Triangle) with a sneak-on stop at Luke’s yacht first. There they learn that his plan is also to grab the Fleece which can heal and resurrect the awful Kronos who will aid Luke in his plan to oust the Gods and take over.

Grover is kidnapped

Sea of Monsters

After Percy uses his power over water to help the gang escape Luke and his pet Manticore (creature with lion’s head and scorpion tail), the questers end up inside the tummy of huge sea creature Charybdis and there they find Clarisse, who has also been swallowed. She captains an ironclad ship from the Civil War manned by….well zombie soldiers. When Percy’s plan to escape works, she has to give him some props!

Swallowed by giant Charybdis

The Cyclops, the Fleece and Kronos

Grover, posing as a Cyclops because Polyphemus, a huge Cyclops who guards the Fleece, loves especially to eat Satyrs, is semi-rescued by the gang who are able to grab the Fleece but only end up again in Luke and pals’ clutches. Despite Percy and pals’ gallant fight, Luke uses the Fleece to raise Kronos, a huge, horned fiery monster, who eats some of our questers. Let’s just say Tyson proves himself, Clarisse learns to respect Percy’s strength, smarts and powers, Kronos is defeated and the Fleece is taken back to camp to save the Talia Tree. But, is that such a great idea? Maybe not after all.

In Washington, D.C.

Wrapping Up

Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters is a worthy sequel to “Lightning Thief” as it continues the story of Percy’s desire to prove himself. Logan Lerman seems more comfortable in the part this time around. Leven Rambin as Clarisse does a good job of shifting from controlling bee-otch to cooperative team player. The addition of Tyson, the Cyclops half-bro is fun and, overall, the humor, if pretty tame and G-rated, is cute. Nathan Fillion, as Luke’s dad Hermes is very funny but some of the humor in his scene falls flat.

Nathan Fillion (Hermes) on set

Percy gets to use his powers to good effect and creatures and CGI work is fine. I was especially charmed by a wonderful, iridescent sea horse critter. Sadly, added 3-D makes the entire film appear very dark and I don’t feel it is really needed.

The beautiful Sea Horse

I have not read these books so I don’t know how close the film follows but the story ends with a very good set-up for the next film. I’d say for Percy fans, it might stray from the book but you’ll still enjoy, for non-fans, the film is a nice, if tame, popcorn-munching adventure. We’d go 3 and a half stars but, since don’t have 1/2s we go 3.